Page 68 of Monster's Mystery

“I’ve tried!”

“No, you’ve tried to find your friend and other students. Have you tried to findyour soulmate?”

I opened and closed my mouth a couple times. “Are you saying that there’s a way of tracking my bond with Aiden?”

Darragh shrugged. “Might be. You’d have to search Declan’s notes about his soul bond. Maybe look into the spells of beasts, who would have a reason to track a soul bond. We witches don’t have that sort of thing.”

I wiped my tears from my cheeks. “Careful, your prejudice is showing.”

“Not at all, my dear. Just stating a fact.”

“I’ll ask Professor Dunlop about it.”

Darragh nodded his approval. “That’s an excellent idea.”

I left my study room feeling a little bit better. Rather than going to find Bruce, I went to the office and knocked on the professor’s door.

“Come in.”

The professor was staring out the window, looking older than usual.

“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.

“Very tired,” he replied with a sigh. He turned away from the window and gestured at the empty chair across his desk, taking his seat in the large one opposite. “I assume you’re here about Aiden.”

“Bruce came to ask you—”

“If he’d been caught out of bed, yes. He did.” The professor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’m not up all night, keeping track of students in the hallways. Curfew is a stupid rule. You’re all adults. But with the disappearances over the past few days, all the teachers have been patrolling. None of us saw anything.”

“What about invisibility spells?” I asked, leaning forward eagerly. “And what about that spell that would notify you if someone was forced to leave the castle?”

Professor Dunlop shook his head. “Nobody was forced to leave the castle last night. The spells are all in place and not tampered with. We can’t see through invisibility spells, obviously, but there are ways of seeing the space around them, by looking for magic, you know. Nobody saw anything last night.” He put his glasses back on.

“Shit,” I cursed, sitting back in the chair.

“Language, Miss Doyle, but yes, I agree with your sentiment.”

“I’d like to talk about potentially tracking him through our soul bond.”

The professor’s bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. “That is certainly a possibility. I hadn’t considered that.”

“The thing that makes it so dangerous to be apart might be the thing that works to bring us together,” I said poetically.

“I need to do some research. Come find me tonight; I should have found something that will help by then.” Professor Dunlop swiveled on his chair to look at the low bookcases behind him. “Seven o’clock sharp, mind.”

“I’ll bring Bruce with me. He’s worried, too.”

“The more the merrier,” the professor said absentmindedly. He traced his fingers along spines and muttered under his breath.

I left the office, feeling confident in our chances to solve the mystery now that we had a solid plan of action, and ran across the foyer to the cafeteria.

I collapsed into a seat next to my friends and swiped an apple from Una’s tray. Bruce handed me half a sandwich and I smiled at him gratefully. “We have a lead,” I declared triumphantly.

“That’s amazing!”

“What is it?”

“Don’t leave us in suspense!”

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